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Gov. Susana Martinez gives kids gift of literacy

Alamogordo Daily NewsBy Michael Johnson, Managing Editor

Posted:
06/14/2013 12:18:43 AM MDT

Gov. Susana Martinez loves to read, but she doesn't care much for what she calls "girlie books." That's what she told me and my staff Thursday morning when the New Mexico governor paid us a visit at the Daily News office.

A good read for the former Doña Ana County District Attorney-turned-New Mexico governor was anything that involved true crime stories.

"I always liked to read the (Ted) Bundy story ... the Green River Killer,'' she said. "True stories about how (police) discovered them and what led (criminals) down the wrong path. I found it to be a learning tool."

Martinez is also fond of -- not surprisingly -- books penned by John Grisham.

"I've read almost every one of those. I really love them. They're not true-crime books, but they're very entertaining," she said.

The next question was obvious: What's your favorite Grisham thriller?

"'The Pelican Brief' is my favorite book. I love that one," she said. "Another one I like is 'The Witness.' Those are two books that I cannot put down when I start reading them."

So why were we asking her about books? Martinez is pushing a statewide initiative called "New Mexico Reads to Lead." It's spearheaded by the Public Education Department to get children in second, third and fourth grade reading all year long, especially when school's out during what she called the "summer slide."

"We want them to be active with reading during the summer," Martinez said.

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"With soccer, T-ball and all the other sports, we want them to pick up a book and read a little bit of it in the evening when things slow down."

There are four programs in which children can participate: Club Read Program, Reading Animal Summer Challenge, Nothing But Net Aggie/Lobo Summer Reading Shootout and New Mexico True Summer Reading Challenge. Prizes such as an all-expense paid trip to Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Fla., hot-air balloon rides and day as a zookeeper at the Albuquerque BioPark. One prize is a fossil dig near Socorro in which the lucky winner gets to keep any dinosaur bone they find.

Martinez compares not reading during the summer to an athlete taking time off and failing to stay in peak physical shape.

"When you're playing sports, you don't take off long periods of time because your performance level will fall," she said. "When children don't read during the summer, there is a summer slide in which they're not as proficient in reading. If children continue to read and we make it fun for them, they can start the next grade at that grade's reading level. They won't have to catch up."

Martinez was quick to point out that students must read books at their respective grade level or higher.

"You can't be a third-grader reading a first-grade book," she said.

Children must keep track of the books they read on a log sheet (available at the aforementioned website or your local library). They must include the name of the book, author, pages read and when it was finished. The log must be turned in by Aug. 1 to be eligible for the prizes.

I think it's a brilliant move by Martinez and the PED. It is, without a doubt, connected to the governor's push to limit social promotion, a practice by which students who cannot read at their own grade level are automatically promoted to the next grade.

Since lawmakers haven't been able to agree on a compromise social promotion bill for the past two sessions, Martinez and PED secretary-designate Hanna Skandera are being proactive in helping our school children stay literate.

The governor also talked about the many raging wildfires across the state and its effects on tourism, but it was clear Thursday that her mind was on children and getting them to read more often.

"We hope kids get excited about it and find reading more fun," she said.